Femme Fatales Sketchbook Page
Femme fatales are a strong element of many a crime/noir/drama type story. They can represent the possible victim, villain or even hero in some cases and much of the time they help push the story forward! Many actresses through the years came to fame in playing such a character. Posted here is my first sketchbook page on this site and it is from the sketch book I am presently drawing in. The femme fatale type images on this page come from my film noir section of my mind! Cheers!
Happy Twenty Year Anniversary BATMAN THE ANIMATED SERIES!
Here is a great show that can also fit in the crime drama genre in many ways. Yes it does have the science fiction, supernatural elements in it at times, but the character BATMAN in the comics started out more purely as crime fighter/vigilante in more down to earth settings. In the end though this show does have great film noir type storytelling, mood and style in many an episode.
It was twenty years ago today I think one of the better versions of a televised/motion story version of BATMAN debuted on TV. It was BATMAN THE ANIMATED SERIES. Creative types like Bruce Timm, Eric Radomski, Paul Dini, etc. did such a great job in putting this show together! In addition actor Kevin Conroy really gave us a fully realized BATMAN with his voice work! Also other actors like Mark Hamill, etc. did excellent voice acting on characters like the Joker, along with other classic and new characters in this BATMAN universe! BMTAS had a perfect mix of crime/film noir style, mood, adventure, drama, and dark humor all in a kid’s show if you can believe that! I could not resist in creating an image of BATMAN in Illustrator of the style of Bruce Timm who set the visual look of the show.
Now I think I will go watch an episode or two.
This image of the Green Hornet and Kato above was one I created in Illustrator. I was inspired to do this on St. Patrick’s Day while watching a Green Hornet marathon. The Green Hornet is a crime pulp character that debuted in 1936 in his own radio show and this fictional character had a connection to the Lone Ranger. This is a character that can fit in both the superhero and crime genres, so I decided he and Kato can fit in this blog of mine. I was exposed to this character on the late 60’s show, which starred Van Williams as the GH and the soon to be famous Bruce Lee as Kato. This show was created by the same producers as the BATMAN show at the time. While this show was a bit more serious with the Green Hornet, who himself was treated as a criminal of sorts, the BATMAN show was a bit more colorful and campy. The GH tended to fight more gangsters and normal criminal types, while Batman took on more wild and costumed type villains. The GH and BM shows did have a crossover episode, which even as a kid I was never crazy about. I felt the plot and villain they took on just did not seem worthy of such a team up. For more information on the Green Hornet and Kato check out this link below.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Hornet
A trailer to advertise Will Viharo’s books. I did the cover for the latest published book and appear very briefly in the trailer.
I created the cover for writer Will Viharo’s latest Vic Valentine novel DOUBLE FEATURE which does feature two tales of Vic Valentine. I also was part of the trailer that is being created for the novels. The lobby card which I created in Illustrator for fun along with promo purposes features the married couple of Monica Cortes Viharo and the writer of the Vic Valentine series Will Viharo. I took the photo on the day of filming. To purchase the Vic Valentine novels and to find out more about the world of Will Viharo please head over here…
WHAT IS YOUR EARLIEST HUMAN MEMORY?
The crime pulp/drama imagery filtered through the mind of illustrator Rick Lucey.
